+
+Generators and Coroutines
+=========================
+
Generators
-==========
+----------
+
+Generators in CPython are implemented with the struct `PyGenObject`.
+They consist of a [`frame`](frames.md) and metadata about the generator's
+execution state.
+
+A generator object resumes execution in its frame when its `send()`
+method is called. This is analogous to a function executing in its own
+fram when it is called, but a function returns to the calling frame only once,
+while a generator "returns" execution to the caller's frame every time
+it emits a new item with a
+[`yield` expression](https://docs.python.org/dev/reference/expressions.html#yield-expressions).
+This is implemented by the
+[`YIELD_VALUE`](https://docs.python.org/dev/library/dis.html#opcode-YIELD_VALUE)
+bytecode, which is similar to
+[`RETURN_VALUE`](https://docs.python.org/dev/library/dis.html#opcode-RETURN_VALUE)
+in the sense that it puts a value on the stack and returns execution to the
+calling frame, but it also needs to perform additional work to leave the generator
+frame in a state that allows it to be resumed. In particular, it updates the frame's
+instruction pointer and stores the interpreter's exception state on the generator
+object. When the generator is resumed, this exception state is copied back to the
+interpreter state.
+
+The `frame` of a generator is embedded in the generator object struct as a
+[`_PyInterpreterFrame`](frames.md) (see `_PyGenObject_HEAD` in
+[`pycore_genobject.h`](../Include/internal/pycore_genobject.h)).
+This means that we can get the frame from the generator or the generator
+from the frame (see `_PyGen_GetGeneratorFromFrame` in the same file).
+Other fields of the generator struct include metadata (such as the name of
+the generator function) and runtime state information (such as whether its
+frame is executing, suspended, cleared, etc.).
+
+Generator Object Creation and Destruction
+-----------------------------------------
+
+The bytecode of a generator function begins with a
+[`RETURN_GENERATOR`](https://docs.python.org/dev/library/dis.html#opcode-RETURN_GENERATOR)
+instruction, which creates a generator object, including its embedded frame.
+The generator's frame is initialized as a copy of the frame in which
+`RETURN_GENERATOR` is executing, but its `owner` field is overwritten to indicate
+that it is owned by a generator. Finally, `RETURN_GENERATOR` pushes the new generator
+object to the stack and returns to the caller of the generator function (at
+which time its frame is destroyed). When the generator is next resumed by
+[`gen_send_ex2()`](../Objects/genobject.c), `_PyEval_EvalFrame()` is called
+to continue executing the generator function, in the frame that is embedded in
+the generator object.
+
+When a generator object is destroyed in [`gen_dealloc`](../Objects/genobject.c),
+its embedded `_PyInterpreterFrame` field may need to be preserved, if it is exposed
+to Python as part of a [`PyFrameObject`](frames.md#frame-objects). This is detected
+in [`_PyFrame_ClearExceptCode`](../Python/frame.c) by the fact that the interpreter
+frame's `frame_obj` field is set, and the frame object it points to has refcount
+greater than 1. If so, the `take_ownership()` function is called to create a new
+copy of the interpreter frame and transfer ownership of it from the generator to
+the frame object.
+
+Iteration
+---------
+
+The [`FOR_ITER`](https://docs.python.org/dev/library/dis.html#opcode-FOR_ITER)
+instruction calls `__next__` on the iterator which is on the top of the stack,
+and pushes the result to the stack. It has [`specializations`](adaptive.md)
+for a few common iterator types, including `FOR_ITER_GEN`, for iterating over
+a generator. `FOR_ITER_GEN` bypasses the call to `__next__`, and instead
+directly pushes the generator stack and resumes its execution from the
+instruction that follows the last yield.
+
+Chained Generators
+------------------
+
+A `yield from` expression creates a generator that efficiently yields the
+sequence created by another generator. This is implemented with the
+[`SEND` instruction](https://docs.python.org/dev/library/dis.html#opcode-SEND),
+which pushes the value of its arg to the stack of the generator's frame, sets
+the exception state on this frame, and resumes execution of the chained generator.
+On return from `SEND`, the value at the top of the stack is sent back up
+the generator chain with a `YIELD_VALUE`. This sequence of `SEND` followed by
+`YIELD_VALUE` is repeated in a loop, until a `StopIteration` exception is
+raised to indicate that the generator has no more values to emit.
+
+The [`CLEANUP_THROW`](https://docs.python.org/dev/library/dis.html#opcode-CLEANUP_THROW)
+instruction is used to handle exceptions raised from the send-yield loop.
+Exceptions of type `StopIteration` is handled, their `value` field hold the
+value to be returned by the generator's `close()` function. Any other
+exception is re-raised by `CLEANUP_THROW`.
+
+Coroutines
+----------
-Coming soon.
+Coroutines are generators that use the value returned from a `yield` expression,
+i.e., the argument that was passed to the `.send()` call that resumed it after
+it yielded. This makes it possible for data to flow in both directions: from
+the generator to the caller via the argument of the `yield` expression, and
+from the caller to the generator via the send argument to the `send()` call.
+A `yield from` expression passes the `send` argument to the chained generator,
+so this data flow works along the chain (see `gen_send_ex2()` in
+[`genobject.c`](../Objects/genobject.c)).
-<!--
-- Generators, async functions, async generators, and ``yield from`` (next, send, throw, close; and await; and how this code breaks the interpreter abstraction)
--->
+Recall that a generator's `__next__` function simply calls `self.send(None)`,
+so all this works the same in generators and coroutines, but only coroutines
+use the value of the argument to `send`.
projects / thirdparty / Python / cpython.git / commitdiff
